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THE FIRST FRUITS 



% Scriptural $nqnirg 



INTO 



THE TIME AND SEASON 



OF 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION, 



AND 



THE CHANGE OF THOSE WHO ARE ALIYE 
AND REMAIN. 



Behold, I show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be 
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. — 1 Cor. xv. 15. 

Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established : believe his pro- 
phets, so shall Je prosper.— 2 Chron. xx. 20. 



tMlH 



111 



He that testifieth these fnhigs, saith, 

"SURELY, I COME QUICKLY." 



PHILADELPHIA: 
WILLIAM S. YOUNG, PRINTER, REAR OF 50 NORTH .SIXTH ST. 

1856. 




I 

1 



THE 

FIRST RESURRECTION 



AND 



REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH. 



"Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, 
do they that know him not see his days?" Job xxiv. 1. 

The question here propounded by Job to his friends, 
might, with equal propriety, be asked at the present day. 
It is admitted by many that we are now on the eve of 
some great, universal, and important change. " Men's 
hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things which are coming on the earth;" and yet 
professors as well as non-professors, are alike ignorant of 
those great events that are coming upon all the world, to 
try all them that dwell upon the face of the earth. The 
future is enveloped in gloom and darkness; not a single 
ray of light gleams on the horizon. This, as far as the 
unconverted are concerned, is not to be wondered at, in- 
asmuch as the word of divine truth declares of the unre- 
generate : " For man also knoweth not his time : as the 
fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that 
are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in 
an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them." Eccl. 
ix. 12. But this ought not to be the case with those who 
know God, and it will not be the case with those who are 
willing to believe God's most holy word ; for that word 
declares, that although " Evil men understand not judg- 
ment, they that seek the Lord understand all things." 
" Whoso keepeth the commandments shall know no evil 
thing, and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and 
judgment." " Because to every purpose there is time 



2 TIME AND SEASON OF 

and judgment." Eccl. viii. 5, 6. God has never visited 
the world with his judgments, without first revealing his 
secret purposes to his servants, and causing them to give 
even those whom he designed visiting in judgments due 
warning; so that he has on all occasions left the world 
without excuse. He has ever vindicated his character as 
the " Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to 
anger, and of great kindness," who willeth not the death 
of the sinner. He has on all occasions warned man of 
impending danger, and afforded him an opportunity of 
repenting, and flying to him for refuge; and as this has 
been his character through all the past, so his word, which 
can never fail, stands pledged for the future. " The secret 
of the Lord is with them that fear him." When God was 
about to destroy Sodom, his inquiry was : Shall I hide 
from Abraham that thing which I do ? No, he could not; 
for Abraham feared the Lord, and believed and obeyed his 
word; and although Abraham dwelt in the plains of 
Mamre, far removed from the scenes of destruction, and 
God had sent his angels to warn Lot, yet Sodom could 
not be destroyed till Abraham had been apprized of it. 
" Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people 
not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord 
hath not done it ? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, 
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." 
Amos iii. 6, 7. And surely whatever secrets the Lord 
has been pleased to reveal to his servants the prophets, 
41 belong to us and to our children." "For the prophecy 
came not at any time by the will of man; but holy men 
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
* The Scriptures cannot be broken." " God is not a man 
that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should 
repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he 
spoken, and shall he not bring it to pass?" And yet, 
strange as it may appear, in the face of the plainest and 
most positive declarations of God in his word, we are 
constantly pained to hear even those who profess to know 
God, and to love the appearing of his Son, and to be 
waiting for his return from heaven, declare that a know- 
ledge of the time of that return is wisely hidden from us, 
and we can know nothing of it with any degree of cer- 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 3 

tainty. To all such I would address the inquiry of Job: 
" Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, 
do they that know him not see his days ? " Job xxiv. 1. 
Why is it ? I presume no one will attempt to deny, but 
that the Almighty knows the time of his judgments. 
" For I am God, and there is none else : I am God, and 
there is none like me. Declaring the end from the be- 
ginning, and from ancient times the things that are not 
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do 
all my pleasure/' Isa. xlvi. 9, 10. If it be a truth that 
u the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret 
to his servants the prophets/' and if u we have the more 
sure word of prophecy, unto which we do well that we take 
heed as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day 
dawn and the day star arise/' then surely we may discover, 
by a prayerful examination of the Scriptures of truth, 
something concerning the time of our visitation. This, at 
least, appears to me to be in strict accordance with the 
teachings of the Holy Ghost in the word of God. for 
faith to cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, 
and to believe only the word of the living God, to let 
God's word be true, though every man should be found 
to be a liar ! W 7 e purpose, therefore, depending upon the 
promised aid of the Holy Ghost Q ( He shall guide you 
into all truth; and he shall show you things to come;") 
to deliver our feeble testimony, despised as it may be, 
give a reason for the hope we have, and show from the 
Scriptures of truth that the time of the church's de- 
liverance may be known, and that it is the duty of every 
child of God, but more especially of those who profess to 
love the appearing of Jesus, to search and inquire dili- 
gently, and to know when their redemption is near. 
Surely, a subject into which prophets, apostles, and even 
angels have desired to look, and have inquired diligently, 
is a subject into which we may look and inquire also with 
propriety and profit. 

There is one important truth we must ever bear in mind, 
in all our investigations, viz. : the declaration of our blessed 
Lord Jesus : " The Scriptures cannot be broken." We 
must, therefore, take the Scriptures as a whole, and by 
searching them, and comparing scripture with scripture, 



4 TIME AND SEASON OF 

find out the true meaning of every passage, rather than 
by taking, as is too frequently the case, one or two iso- 
lated passages as the foundation of our faith and hope. 
In the important inquiry upon which we have entered, 
we do not expect to be able to remove every objection 
urged against the position we have taken with respect to 
knowing the time ; but rather to give a reason for the 
hope that is within us with meekness and fear. 1 Pet. iii. 
15, 16. For God has never yet revealed his truth to man 
in such a manner as to compel him to believe and receive 
it against his own will. Those who have wished to bring 
God's word to the standard of their own opinions, have 
ever found a wide field in which to doubt, and plausible 
arguments to satisfy themselves that they were right in 
their conclusions, and that it would be presumption to 
implicitly believe God's word, his more sure word of pro- 
phecy, even though he has by the Holy Ghost assured us 
that we do well to take heed thereto, as unto a light shin- 
ing in a dark place. While, on the other hand, all those 
who have, and do still wish to believe and trust his holy 
word, have ever found an everlasting Rock on which to 
rest their faith and hope. The word of the Lord is a 
" tried word," " and very sure." Men are not necessarily 
in darkness, that the day of the Lord should overtake 
them as a thief; and yet we see not only the world, but 
the professing church moving on to that great and solemn 
day, apparently entirely unconscious of its approach, al- 
though the bursting buds of the trees in spring are not 
more unmistakable indications of the approach of summer, 
than the signs of these last times are of the speedy return 
of our blessed Lord. And yet " Who hath believed the 
word of the Lord ? " All past history confirms the fact, 
that men will not receive the truth, nor believe the word 
of the Lord. Who believed Noah, although he gave a 
visible testimony of one hundred and twenty years, by 
the construction of the ark ? Who believed Moses and 
the prophets? Who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, 
the Son of the living God, notwithstanding all the pro- 
phecies that were fulfilled in and by him, and the miracles 
he wrought at his first advent? Is there any more faith 
now? "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 5 

faith on the earth 1" Faith in him as the Messiah is not 
now the question — the time for that is passed; but faith 
in his coming to reign as King over the earth, which he 
has already purchased. The character in which he was 
rejected at his crucifixion is that which he will assume at 
his second coming. u This is Jesus the King of the 
Jews." It is faith in this great truth that is required 
now. 

Perhaps in the whole Bible there is no passage more 
frequently referred to, as an objection to all inquiry, in 
connexion with this subject, than the one found in Mark 
xiii. 32 : " But of that day and hour knoweth no man, 
no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, 
but the Father." Mark, this passage does not affirm 
that no man ever shall know that day and hour, but 
simply, at the time the Saviour spake no man knew that 
day. For if this passage proves that all men are to re- 
main perfectly ignorant of Christ's second appearing until 
he descends from heaven, then it also proves that the 
angels who shall attend him, and even the Son of Grod 
himself, will have no knowledge of this great and mo- 
mentous event till it takes place, and they find themselves 
in this world. Now is there one of the many thousands 
of those who use this verse as an objection to searching 
for the time, (as the disciples did at the period the Saviour 
used these words,) who really believes that the Son of God 
will not know the time of his second appearing? I think 
not; and yet this passage just as much proves that He 
will remain ignorant of the time, as it does that we shall 
remain ignorant of that time. We must, therefore, apply 
the instructions given by Paul to the Corinthians, com- 
pare scripture with scripture, and thus endeavour to un- 
derstand this and all other passages by making them 
harmonize with other scriptures. B} r referring to the 
parallel passages in Matt. xxiv. 3, and Luke, we find the 
disciples, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, asking him 
privately, three separate and distinct questions : " Tell 
us when shall these things be, (the destruction of the 
temple, of which he had been speaking,) and what shall 
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world \ n 
or, more properly, the end of this age or dispensation, 

1* 



6 TIME AND SEASON OF 

which will be brought to a close by his second coming. 
The Lord Jesus proceeds to answer each of these three 
questions, so far as he could do so without breaking the 
Scriptures, which he himself had declared could not be 
broken; for he came not to destroy or make void the pro- 
phets, but to fulfil them. He here gave them a prophecy 
of the events which should take place in connexion with 
the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, and a par- 
ticular sign that should occur previous to that event, by 
observing which, all those who believed and obeyed his 
word might deliver themselves and thus escape; and we 
are told that although eleven hundred thousand persons 
were destroved in that dreadful siege, not one Christian 
perished. The first question was thus fully answered, 
because they were personally interested in it; but the 
subjects embraced in the other two did not concern the 
disciples so much as the first, for the Lord well knew that 
before his second corning they would fall asleep; and we 
must not forget that " they asked him, privately, tell 
us when." If the Lord had told them when he would 
come again, and when the end of the age should be, the 
Scriptures would have been broken, for the angel, in an- 
swering the question of Daniel, xii. 8, " my LoH, what 
is the latter end of these things?" (a question similar in 
its character to that asked by the disciples,) had told him, 
as our Lord well knew: "Go thy way, for the words are 
closed up and sealed till the time of the end." This 
period not having then arrived, the Lord Jesus could not 
reveal the time to the disciples without breaking the Scrip- 
tures of truth, as it is only at the time of the end that 
it is promised the wise shall understand. So that in 
the teaching of Jesus we see a most perfect harmony, 
especially if we read this passage in Mark according to 
the most correct and literal rendering of it, and the one 
most in harmony with all the other portions of God's 
word : Of that day and hour maketh known no man, no 
not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but 
the Father only ; but inasmuch as the Father knoweth 
the day and hour, he will communicate it at his own ap- 
pointed time; for he has declared, that although "the 
words are closed and sealed up unto the time of the end, 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 7 

maDj shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but 
the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked 
shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Dan. 
xii. If our blessed Lord had then communicated to his 
disciples a knowledge of the time of his coming, the words 
of the angel to Daniel would have been proved untrue, 
and the Scriptures would have been broken; so that in- 
stead of this often repeated passage being against those 
who endeavour, by searching diligently the word of God, 
to know the time, it is found to be in perfect agreement 
with those passages that declare "that the wise shall un- 
derstand/' and that " the Lord God will do nothing but he 
revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." There 
is, also, another argument which might be noticed here, 
viz. : That it was reserved as the peculiar office of the 
Holy Ghost to reveal things in the future ; but he was 
not yet given. We will leave this point for the present, 
and pass on to the passage found in Acts i. 6, 7. The 
same thought still occupied the minds of the disciples after 
the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. " When they, 
therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, 
Lord, wilt thou, at this time, restore again the kingdom 
to Israel?" this was the last question of the disciples to 
the risen Saviour, previous to his departure to the bosom 
of his Father, where he must remain " until the comple- 
tion of the times of the restitution of all things, which 
God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets 
since the world began." How appropriate, how reason- 
able that they should wish to know when that glory, of 
which he had so often and so recently spoken to them, 
should be manifested. Acts i. 3. He had since his resur- 
rection, on various occasions, opened their minds to under- 
stand the Scriptures more fully concerning not only his 
sufferings but the glory which must follow ; and, beginning 
at Moses and all the prophets, he had expounded unto 
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself 
and the kingdom of God. And now, following the ex- 
amples of the prophets of old, who had searched and in- 
quired diligently respecting " the time of the sufferings 
of Christ and of the glory that should follow," they also 
were anxious to know when his kingdom should be esta- 



5 TIME AND SEASON OF 

blished. They really desired information concerning the 
time of the glorious Advent, and were not (as is too 
often the case now,) reluctant to receive it. The love 
of the disciples for their Saviour rendered his absence very 
difficult to bear, and the thought which, of all others, 
at this solemn and interesting moment, seemed to occupy 
their whole mind, was one which, of all others, is the least 
interesting to professed disciples at the present day. 
" Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
Israel? " They did not wish to think of his absence, but 
only of his presence and glory. Professing Christians, 
at the present day, desire rather his absence than bis pre- 
sence; they are more willing to contemplate Christ hu- 
miliated and crucified, than Christ exalted and glorified ; 
they had rather speak of him as the Man of Sorrows, 
despised and rejected of men, than to contemplate him as 
coming to reign, King of kings, and Lord of lords. They 
had rather think of him as an intercessor than as a present 
deliverer, the resurrection and the life, coming to judge 
the quick and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom ; 
and instead of rejoicing in the expectation of his speedy 
return, they more willingly receive the vain traditions of 
men, and believe that the Saviour will not return to this 
earth for a thousand years at least. You may talk of the 
return of Jesus, only do not presume to say that you 
know, or even hope, that it is near at hand. Do not ask, 
as did the disciples, " Tell us when shall these things 
be? "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the 
end of this dispensation, or wilt thou at this time restore 
the kingdom to Israel V — raise thy loved ones, who have 
so long been sleeping in the dust of the earth; change thy 
waiting ones, who love thy appearing; bring the wicked- 
ness of the wicked to an end; establish righteousness, 
justice, and truth in the earth, and bring deliverance " to 
the whole creation, groaning and travailing in pain to- 
gether until now. For the earnest expectation of the 
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God/' 
Oh, no! These are truths for'gotten and forbidden at the 
present day, and the Christian that desires to imitate the 
disciples in their anxiety to know the time when these 
blessed hopes shall be realized, is considered e"ther a fa' 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 9 

natic or presumptuous. How different the Saviour's an- 
swer to the disciples ! "And he said unto them, It is not 
for you to know the times or the seasons, which the 
Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive 
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Ver. 
8. I would here ask what was it they were to receive 
power to do, when the Holy Ghost should be given? If 
it was not to understand those things about which they 
had so anxiously and repeatedly inquired — the times and 
seasons of the coming of the Lord to restore again the 
kingdom to Israel, and when he himself shall reign as 
King. The Spirit had been promised to the apostles long 
before. And what was the Spirit's particular work, in 
reference to all that our Lord had previously foretold ? 
It was that of a remembrancer and teacher. " He shall 
teach you all things, and bring all things to your re- 
membrance whatsoever I have said unto you." John xiv. 
26. " Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he 
will guide you into ALL truth ; for he shall not speak of 
himself: but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: 

AND HE WILL SHOW YOU THINGS TO COME." " All things 

that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that he 
shall take of mine, and show it unto you." John xvi. 13, 
15. If, then, the times and the seasons heretofore belonged 
to the Father, and he had held them in his own power 
hitherto, we have here the promise of Jesus that the Holy 
Ghost shall impart the power to understand them also. 
" Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is 
come upon you." "Now we have received, not the spirit 
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we 
might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's 
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; 
comparing spiritual things with spiritual." 1 Cor. ii. 12, 
13. If it be true that the Holy Ghost is to abide with 
the church, and to dwell in the believer, during the ab- 
sence of, and until the return of our Lord, and if it is his 
office to "show us things to come," and we can adopt the 
language of Paul just quoted, then, indeed, we shall find 
" the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and 
he will show them his covenant." Ps. xxv. 14. And that 



10 TIME AND SEASON OF 

the Lord God will do nothing without first revealing his 
secret to his servants through the prophets. 

Having now answered the objections founded on these 
two passages of Scripture, we are prepared for the ques- 
tion : " Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Al- 
mighty, do they that know him not see his day ? " Let 
us, therefore, examine a few of the passages which teach 
us that we may know something of the time. 1 Peter i. 
10 : Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of 
your souls ; of which salvation the prophets have inquired 
and searched diligently. Searching what, or what manner 
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, 
when it testified beforehand the (time) of the sufferings of 
Christ and the glory that should follow. What is the end 
of our faith, what the salvation of our souls, but the ap- 
pearing of Jesus, to clothe us with glory, honour, im- 
mortality, and eternal life ; for we are now only saved by 
hope, but at the appearing of Jesus we shall receive the 
end or consummation of our hope. When he comes in 
his glory, we shall be glorified together with him. What 
a blessed thought! How earnestly we should inquire, 
and diligently search for the time when faith shall end in 
sight ! 

If we really loved the absent Saviour, and longed for 
his return, in order that all our hopes, as well as his, 
should be consummated, should we object to inquiry for 
the time? Should we not rather be found asking: 
" How long, Lord, how long?" Did the prophets of 
old inquire how long? Yes ; we find Daniel, " a man 
greatly beloved/' inquiring not only the time of the suf- 
ferings of Christ, but also the time of the glory that should 
follow. He was told that seventy weeks were cut off from 
the two thousand three hundred days, " after sixty and 
nine of which Messiah was to bo cut off." Dan. ix. But 
in the twelfth chapter we are brought to the period of the 
resurrection. Verse 2. In the fourth verse, Daniel is 
directed to shut up the words and seal the book to the 
time of the end, when he is told, many shall have searched 
diligently, and knowledge shall be increased. But as if 
the assurance here given, that knowledge should be in- 
creased at the time of the end, was not sufficient to satisfy 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 11 

the bright intelligences sent to communicate with Daniel 
on this important and interesting subject, we find them 
inquiring, in the 6th verse: "How long?" or at how 
great a distance to the end of these wonders. The an- 
swer is given in the 7th verse; and in the 8th verse we 
find the beloved Daniel still not satisfied with this answer, 
again inquiring: " 0, my Lord, what shall be the end of 
these things?" He is then told, as the Saviour told his 
disciples, that the full understanding of these great truths 
was reserved for another time ; or, in the language of 1 
Peter i. 12; " Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto 
themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things 
which are now reported unto you. . . . Which 
things the angels desired to look into." " And he said, 
(9th ver.) Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed 
up and sealed till the time of the end." " Many shall 
be purified, and made white, and tried ; but the wicked 
shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall attend, 
but the wise shall understand." Understand what? "What 
is the subject into which the angels and Daniel are so 
earnestly inquiring ? Is it not the time of the glory of 
Christ, when he shall come to awake them that sleep in 
the dust of the earth? "And they that be wise shall 
shine as the firmament ; and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Undoubt- 
edly it is; for there is no other subject either introduced 
or inquired into here, but the subject of time; if this be 
so, we have the positive assurance that at the time of 
the end many shall search diligently, knowledge shall 
increase, and the wise shall understand. 

Josephus observes, " that Daniel not only prophesied of 
things to come, like the other prophets, but hath also deter- 
mined the time wherein these things should happen." The 
great object of the prophecy of Daniel would appear to be 
to bring us down to, and distinctly point out, the period 
of, as well as the events in connexion with, the second 
coming of our Lord Jesus. This prophecy was given 
more for the benefit of the generation that should witness 
the closing scenes of the present dispensation, than for 
any other in past time; and hence the propriety of its 
remaining closed up and sealed to past generations until 



12 TIME AND SEASON OF 

the time of the end. Now that the generation that is to 
witness the scenes of the last days is on the stage of 
action, the prophecy is unsealed, and may be understood. 
Christ suffered at the exact time appointed beforehand, 
and revealed by Daniel : " For according to the time, 
Christ died for the ungodly. " Rom. v. 6. John xiii. 1. 
" Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should de- 
part out of this world unto the Father." How often are 
we told that " They sought to take him, but no man laid 
hands on him, because his hour was not yet come." John 
vii. 30; viii. 20. Thus was the arrangement of time 
fulfilled when Christ suffered, and the time of the glory 
having been revealed in the same sure word of prophecy, 
that event will just as certainly take place at the exact 
time appointed. " For there is a time for every purpose, 
and for every work." Eccl. iii. 17. And if prophets, and 
apostles, and angels, have ro earnestly desired to look into 
these things, and have inquired, " How long, Lord, 
how long ? " surely it cannot be wrong for us to follow 
their example, especially, as " it was revealed unto them, 
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister." 
For "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where- 
unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that 
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, (Oh what a 
glorious day-dawn !) and the day star arise in your hearts." 
" For the prophecy came not at any time by the will of 
man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter i. 21. If prophecy can 
only be understood when fulfilled, how can it be said to 
be a light in a dark place ? What use is a light except 
in a dark place ? Are prophetic events surrounded with 
darkness when fulfilled ? When shall we learn to cease 
from man, and believe God's most holy and sure word? 
"Ye have made the word of God of none effect by your 
tradition." " Evil men understand not judgment; but 
they that seek the Lord understand, all things." Prov. 
xx viii. 5. " That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have 
made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have I not 
written to thee excellent things in counsels and know- 
ledge ? That I might make thee know the certainty of 
the words of truth ; that thou mightest answer the words 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 13 

of truth to them that send unto thee." Prov. xxii. 19 to 
21. " The days of visitation are come, the days of re- 
compense are come : Israel shall know it." Hosea ix. 7. 
" I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, 
and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what 
I shall answer when I am reproved, (or when I am argued 
with — margin.) And the Lord answered me, and said : 
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he 
may run that readeth it." ( a Many shall run to and fro, 
knowledge shall be increased, the wise shall understand." 
Dan. xii.) " For the vision is yet for an appointed time; 
but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though it tarry, 
wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; 
but the just shall live by faith." Hab. ii. 1 to 4. The 
just shall live by faith in the promises of God; his sure 
word shall be fulfilled. "And the word of the Lord 
came unto me, saying, Son of Man, what is that proverb 
that ye have in the lr.nd of Israel, saying, the days are 
prolonged, and every vision faileth." (Is not this pro- 
verb abroad in the land now? Are we not constantly 
told, you can know nothing of the time, because every 
calculation of the appointed time faileth ?) " Tell 
them, therefore, thus saith the Lord God : I will make 
this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a 
proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at 
hand, and the effect of every vision. For I am the Lord; 
I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come 
to pass; it shall no more be prolonged: for in your daj^s, 
rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform 
it, saith the Lord God." " Again, the word of the Lord 
came to me, saying, Son of Man, behold, the house of 
Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days, and 
he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Therefore, 
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God : There shall 
none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word 
which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God." 
Ezek. xii. 21 to 28. 

" Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth 
(or maketh known,) his secret to his servants the pro- 
phets." " Secret things belong unto the Lord; but the 
2 



14 TIME AND SEASON OF 

things that he hath revealed belong to us and to our chil- 
dren." " For ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that 
day should overtake you as a thief." — (Unexpectedly.) 
What day is here referred to by the apostle? Surely the 
day of which he hj.d just been speaking: "When the 
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God ; 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which 
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with 
them to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be 
with the Lord." The rapture of the church is not, then, 
to come upon us unexpectedly, as a thief. We need not 
be in darkness as to that day, if we will only watch. "Re- 
member, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and 
hold fast, and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, 
I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know 
what hour I will come upon thee." Rev. iii. 3. " And 
this know, that if the good man of the house had known 
what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, 
and not have suffered his house to be broken through." 
Mark xii. 39. Is not this good evidence that the time 
may, yea, that it will be known to the watching, waiting, 
believing ones ? " As it was in the days of Noah, so 
shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man." Luke 
xvii. 26. It was so with Noah in regard to the flood; 
the definite time was revealed to him. " And the Lord 
said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that 
he also is flesh ; yet his days shall be an hundred and 
twenty years." Gen. vi. 3. But as the time was about 
expiring, God made a further revelation of the time to 
him. And having found him faithful and obedient to 
the instructions already given to him, " The Lord said 
unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; 
for thee have I seen righteous (faith is counted for right- 
eousness) before me in this generation." "For yet seven 
days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days 
and forty nights; and every living substance that I have 
made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." Gen. 
vii. 1 and 4. And is not the event for which we are 
looking of as much consequence to the world now, as was 
the flood to the antediluvians? Is it not vastly more so? 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 15 

Are not the events to transpire at the second coming of 
our Lord in glory and majesty, of infinitely more impor- 
tance? And shall those who, like Noah, believe God's 
word, "and do according unto all that the Lord com- 
manded him/' be left in darkness, for that day to over- 
take them as a thief? No, surely not. " If, therefore, 
thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and 
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee/' 
Certainly, this implies that if we do watch, as it is our 
duty to do, in obedience to the commands of Jesus, we shall 
know the time, even as Noah did. When the second flood 
shall overwhelm the Second Apostacy, all, indeed, will 
not be destroyed, but all must pass through the Great 
Tribulation, except those who are in the Ark, who shall 
have the words addressed to them : " Come, my people, 
enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about 
thee ; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until 
the indignation be overpast; for behold the Lord cometh 
out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for 
their iniquity. " Tsa. xxvi. 20, 21. Noah, in reality, did 
not pass through the flood : he was not in it, he was above 
it. The ungodly world lay below him in the deep, while 
he looked down in safety on the tumultuous waters. In 
the same Ark, not only the future germs of the human race 
were saved, but of all the tribes of the earth. Everything 
that exists at present was represented by the inhabitants 
of the Ark. 

Noah is the type of the elect who " shall be counted 
worthy to escape all those things that are coming upon 
the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man," Luke 
xxi. 36, and who shall be saved from the day of the Lord. 
The Ark is the representative of the covenant of grace, 
by which they shall be saved. There was no security 
outside the Ark; those who stood the nearest perished 
equally with those who were furthest off. It was only by 
entering in that any were preserved. It is not by the pro- 
fession of Christianity, by approaching however nearly to 
the Christian covenant that any shall be saved; it is only 
by entering in by faith in God's promises. All who re- 
main outside, through unbelief, are equally exposed to 
the judgments of the day of the Lord. But within that 



16 TIME AND SEASON OF 

covenant there is perfect safety. All who are within, and 
obey the command, " Watch ye, therefore, and pray al- 
ways/' shall be accounted worthy to escape all those things 
that shall come to pass. By the shelter of that covenant, 
not only man shall be saved, but the whole creation. 
Every beast, and bird, and insect has an unconscious part, 
according to its kind, in the covenant of redemption. The 
creation itself, the entire globe, is protected by that cove- 
nant. For the whole creation " shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the 
children of Grod." Above all — the elect. For the sake 
of the elect, the world is preserved, the sun shines, the 
rain falls, the whole system of nature is maintained. Re- 
move them from the earth, and ail the bonds of conserva- 
tion break. Mercy departs along with them, restraining 
power is withdrawn, and mankind are left and given over 
to their own abandoned will. The elect are the garri- 
son of the earth; it is their presence alone which keeps 
anarchy in check, and prevents the dismemberment of 
society. In the day that Noah entered into the Ark, the 
flood began. In the day when the elect shall be t&ken 
from the earth, the floodgates of Divine wrath shall be 
thrown open, and the last judgments shall begin. The 
saints, in security, shall look down upon those judgments 
as Noah looked down into the flood. But they shall have 
no part in that destruction. The covenant, like the Ark, 
secures them on every side safe from every danger; and 
when the flood has passed, when the judgments are abated, 
they shall come forth, like Noah from the Ark, to take 
possession of a new earth, "in which dwelleth righteous- 
ness." Noah knew the period of the flood, and preached 
it to the world, and prepared his Ark, notwithstanding 
the unbelief and derision of men. In doing this, he 
condemned the world "by His faith," and saved himself 
and his family. But the people doubted, scoffed, and 
were destroyed. " So shall it be also in the days of the 
Son of Man." 

Now that we have evidently arrived at the very eve of 
that time for which the primitive church so anxiously 
longed, and to which they so earnestly looked, many of 
the people of God appear as if they would rather have 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 17 

lived in earlier times, and that instead of desiring to ob- 
tain a glorious transformation by being changed and 
" caught up in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye/' to 
meet the Lord in the air, — the hope held out by the 
apostle as the source of comfort to the Thessalonians, (1 
Thess. iv. 18,) they would prefer submitting their mortal 
frame as a prey to the devourer death. 

Had believers, in the first ages of the church, been made 
aware not merely of the events first to occur, but also of 
the time that would elapse, they would have burned with 
impatience and grieved for the delay. They, indeed, 
needed to be often reminded of the duty of the patient 
waiting for Christ; a frame of mind which, alas! it is now 
little necessary to inculcate. Nor is it difficult to discover 
the reason. Their attention was constantly directed to 
the return of Him in whom centered all their hopes, who 
is the object of faith; it was the frequent subject of fer- 
vent prayer ; it was made available for every holy use by 
the inspired apostles and early Christians; it ministered 
consolation in adversity, and taught moderation in pros- 
perity. The prospects which this doctrine reveals to the 
believer, armed him with a holy heroism which no suffer- 
ings could subdue, infused additional efficacy into reproof 
when it was required, and powerfully strengthened the 
whole tone of Christian morality. 

Surely, if our affections were placed on the Saviour ; if 
he was to us the chief among ten thousand, and the one 
altogether lovely; if we had none in heaven but him, or 
on earth that we desired in comparison with him, we also 
would desire his return, we should be willing to examine 
with prayerful attention every intimation that the time of 
his absence was fast drawing to a close, and that the time 
of our union to our blessed Head was at hand. We should 
long to see him as he is ; we should be constantly pray- 
ing, " Thy kingdom come." " Come, Lord Jesus, come 
quickly." Oh why is his chariot so long in coming ? Why 
tarry the wheels of his chariot? Is it not the natural 
consequence of love to desire to be with the object of our 
love? and if the object of that love be at a distance, to 
count the days, and even the hours of that absence, until 
the time is expired. In all our natural affections, it is 

2* 



18 TIME AND SEASON OF 

with great difficulty that we patiently wait for the long 
expected union. .Who blames us for counting the days 
and hours? No one. Only let the object of our love be 
an earthly relative or friend, it is all well, and very com- 
mendable and proper; but should the object of our love 
be Jesus, our precious Redeemer and Saviour, the case is 
altogether changed. What before was highly commend- 
able and proper, is now fanaticism and presumption ; the 
question of time is all-important when connected with any 
other subject than the appearing of our blessed Jesus, and 
our entrance upon the " undefiled inheritance," which is 
" reserved in heaven for all who are kept bv the power of 
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in 
the last time." Let the fact be announced to any Chris- 
tian, at the present day, that he has become the heir to an 
earthly estate, and what will be his first inquiry? Will 
he not inquire, with all possible eagerness, When shall I 
enter on the possession of it? This is the principal ques- 
tion which concerns him, and the one in which he feels 
most interested. No danger of any presumption here. 
Oh no ! It is a very proper inquiry, and one in which 
he is deeply concerned. Or, to illustrate this point still 
further : Let us suppose, for instance, a woman, whose 
husband is a long time absent from her in a distant land. 
She is possibly very diligent in the management of his 
affairs, and conducts herself with perfect outward pro- 
priety, but always breaks out into a passion whenever any 
one speaks to her of her husband's return. "Oh no/' she 
says, " he cannot be coming yet. I expect to be much bet- 
ter off before he comes. I expect his estate under my ma- 
nagement, to be much more extensive; if he were to come 
now, he would disarrange all my plans; besides, what is 
the use of thinking about his coming? I may die first, 
and that will be exactly the same as his coming to me." 
Let her asseverations of love and affection be what they 
may, you cannot believe otherwise than that her heart is 
alienated from her lord, and probably fixed upon another. 
Now, let us suppose another woman in the same situation. 
See her constantly reading his letters, and especially those 
parts of them which describe the time and the circum- 
stances attendant on his return ; hear her talk of it to her 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 19 

children, and teaching them to look forward to it as the 
consummation of her, and their fondest wishes. Mark 
the silent scorn with which she treats & judicious friend, 
who would try to persuade her that there was no use in 
looking out for his return, for that he had never men- 
tioned the month, far less the day or the hour when it 
was to take place. Though she may make no noisy pro- 
testations of her love; though she may speak but little 
about him, except to her children, and to those whose 
hearts are tuned in unison with her own, who can for a 
moment entertain a doubt of the real state of her affec- 
tions ? Let us apply the figure to ourselves A dislike 
to hear of the nearness of the coming of the Lord is a 
more decided proof of the affections of the religious world 
at large, and of every single member of it, being alien- 
ated from the love of Jesus Christ, and therefore in an 
unholy, unsanctified, and consequently in an unprepared 
state for this glorious event, than all their noisy profes- 
sion of love and attachment to Jesus, are to the contrary. 



THE TIME WHEN THE CHURCH SHALL BE 
CAUGHT UP. 

Having shown from the Scriptures of truth that the 
inquiry, " How long shall it be to the end of these won- 
ders? n is a proper one for us who are living in that period 
in which it is declared, "the wise shall understand/' 
Dan. xii. 9, we will, for a moment, consider the language 
of 1 Peter i. 9 to 12 : " Receiving the end of your faith, 
(that is, the object for which ye believed,) the salvation 
of your souls " Romans v. 2: " Of which salvation 
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently; 
searching what, and what manner of time (t. e. what was 
the character of the time given to them, literal or sym- 
bolical,) the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did sig- 
nify, when it testified beforehand (the time of) the 
sufferings of Christ, and (the time of.) the glory that 
should follow." 



20 TIME AND SEASON OF 

Peter here affirms that the time of the sufferings of 
Christ, as well as the time of the glory that shall follow, 
has been revealed to the prophets beforehand. Now, 
as the church and Christ are to be glorified together, 
Rom. viii. 17, when his glory shall be revealed, 
1 Peter iv. 13 ; v. 1 ; it follows, that the time of the 
first resurrection, and the removal of those who shall be 
alive and remain, is the time into which the prophets 
have inquired and searched diligently, — but unto whom 
it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us 
they did minister the things into which even the angels 
desired to look. 1 Peter i. 12. The prophecy of Daniel, 
recorded in the eighth chapter, is the only one which 
gives us the measurement of time, extending to the 
period when Jesus shall be glorified. In the first part of 
this chapter we have three universal empires presented 
to us under the symbols of the Ram with two horns, the 
He-goat, and the Little Horn, which waxed EX- 
CEEDING GREAT. 

In the thirteenth verse : — " Then I heard one saint 
speaking, and another saint said unto, (the numberer 
of secrets, or the wonderful numberer — see margin,) how 
long the VISION, (i. e. literally, how long the term 
of the vision, or to how distant a period will the 
vision extend,) of the daily, and the transgression mak- 
ing desolate, (exposing,) both the sanctuary and the 
host to be trodden under foot ? And he said unto me, 
Unto two thousand and three hundred days, when the 
sanctuary shall be (justified.)" Here we have the mea- 
suring of the times of the Gentiles, commencing some- 
where during the reign of the Medo-Persian kingdom, 
symbolized by the Ram having two horns, (see 20th v.) 
and ending when the sanctuary shall be declared justified. 

The times of the Gentiles having been fulfilled, the 
church, which is, during this dispensation, the temple or 
sanctuary of God, (1 Cor. iii. 16 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; Eph. ii. 
21, 22,) shall be declared justified, by the first resurrec- 
tion, and the change of those who shall form the house- 
hold of Christ. Heb. iii. 6. But when the church has 
been removed, and glorified with Christ her Head, then 
shall the earthly sanctuary (Jerusalem,) be cleansed ; a 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 21 

work which cannot be commenced until the end of the 
days; for Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles 
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The act of 
cleansing cannot be commenced until the days of desola- 
tion are accomplished. 

The next point of inquiry is, at what period of time, 
during the reign of the kings of Medo-Persia, (the ram 
power,) does the two thousand three hundred clays com- 
mence? Let us inquire and search diligently. True to 
his promise, and to the instructions he had received in vcr. 
16, (make this man understand the vision,) Gabriel pro- 
ceeds ) ver. 19-26. The Ram is the representative of the 
kings or kingdom of Mcdo-Persia. The rough Goat is 
the kingdom of Grecia. The great horn between his eyes 
is the first king, Alexander the Great. Alexander was 
chosen by the Greeks as general, and with an army of 
30,000 he overthrew Darius king of Persia, who had an 
army of 400,000 foot and 100,000 horse. He conquered a 
part of Europe and all Asia in the short space of twelve 
years, and then wept that he had not another world to 
conquer. He died at Eabylon, at the age of 33 years, 
after having resigned himself to a life of intemperance. 
The four horns which came up after the first horn was 
broken off, (8th ver.) represent four kingdoms, (20th ver.) 
Within fifteen years after the death of Alexander, his 
posterity had either died or were killed, and his kingdom 
was divided amongst his four generals. Ptolemy Soter 
took Egypt, with Judea, Phoenicia, &c, in the southern 
part. Seleucus Nicator had Syria and the East ; Lysi- 
machus had Thrace, and Bythinia in the North; and 
Cassander had Macedonia, Greece, &c, in the West. 

Out of one of them came forth a little horn, that 
waxed EXCEEDING GREAT. That this symbolizes 
Rome will be made apparent in the interpretation, and 
in the fulfilment, as recorded in history. Rome was a 
little republic on the Tiber, about 750 years before Christ, 
but was not noticed in prophecy until it conquered Macedon, 
one of the horns of Grecia, and was seen emerging "out 
of/' or from that point or kingdom, from which " it waxed 
great towards the south, (Egypt,) and towards the east, 
and towards the pleasant land." Rome not only extended 



22 TIME AND SEASON OF 

lier conquests east, but in 30 B. C. she became mistress 
of the world,—" EXCES DING great." How literally 
fulfilled ! 

Rome put the prince of the host, (the Lord Jesus 
Christ,) to death, destroyed Jerusalem, scattered the Jews, 
the ancient and covenanted people of God, and destroyed 
wonderfully the holy people, 50,000,000 of saints having 
perished by fire, the sword, captivity, and spoil, under the 
power of papal Rome. Leaving the scenery of the vision, 
which has now been fully explained, we pass on to notice 
the time of its duration. In the last verse of chapter 
eighth, we find Daniel saying : " I was astonished at the 
vision ; but none understood it." Gabriel had not then 
accomplished his mission, for he was commanded to 
make Daniel understand it. Ver. J 6. What, then, did 
Daniel not understand? All that he had seen in the 
vision had been fully and clearly explained, except its 
duration. Gabriel must, therefore, instruct him, " what, 
or what manner of time the Spirit did signify, when it 
testified to him of the sufferings of Christ." u He shall 
also stand up against the Prince of princes;" ("and of 
the glory that should follow;") "but he shall be broken 
without hand." 

Each of the kingdoms were represented by symbols. 
Would it not destroy the symmetry and harmony of the 
vision, unless the duration were represented by symbols 
also ? We find that the following chapter is occupied, to 
the end of the 19th verse, with the prayer of this man of 
God ) and in the 21st verse, while in the very act of speak- 
ing in prayer, Gabriel, whom he had seen in the vision at 
the be^inninsr, and who was commanded to make him 
understand it, appeared to him and said : O Daniel, I am 
now come forth to give thee, (literally to improve thee,) 
in skill and understanding. I am come to show thee ; 
attend, therefore, to the word, that thou may est under- 
stand, and consider the vision." What part of the vision 
was it that Daniel did not understand? Its duration 
only, or the manner or kind of time the Spirit did sig- 
nify, when he informed them that the TERM or dura- 
tion should be unto two thousand and three hundred 
days, c. viii. 14. 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 23 

Now, if it be the object of bis mission to give him in- 
struction respecting the understanding of the duration of 
the vision, we may expect to find that time alone will 
occupy their attention during this interview. And what 
are the facts? His very first instruction is on the subject 
of time. Ver. 24. Seventy weeks are determined (lite- 
rally, cut off,) upon thy people. What part of the vision 
is he explaining? Most certainly its duration. Bicker- 
steth construes the passage thus: " Of the whole 
period of two thousand and three hundred days, seventy 
weeks of years are cut off," " to seal up the vision." I 
would here ask : Is this sealing up, to hide from, or to 
confirm and make sure the vision? Surely there can be 
but one opinion on this point. Gabriel was instructed to 
make him understand. Then, if the seventy weeks 
were cut off to make sure the vision, they must be a part 
of the duration of the vision. If they are not a part of 
the vision, then Gabriel does not instruct him about the 
vision, which he was commanded to do. We must, there- 
fore, believe that these seventy weeks are given to con- 
firm (make sure,) the duration of the vision of two thou- 
sand three hundred days, and to give us a point from 
whence to commence them. This being established, there 
can be but one consistent view taken as regards their true 
commencement. Ver. 25. Know, therefore, and un- 
derstand. Understand what? When to commence the 
vision : " From the going forth of the commandment to 
restore and build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, 
shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks ; the 
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in trou- 
blous times." 

As the first object seen in the vision was the Ram with 
two horns, representing the kings of Media and Persia, 
20th verse, it is reasonable to expect that the command 
should be given in their reign. Accordingly, we find 
that, during the reign of these kings, there were four, 
and only four decrees issued concerning Jerusalem. Our 
business will be to inquire which of these decrees answers 
to the express requirements of this prophecy, setting forth 
such literal re-building as is here predicted. 

The first of these commandments went forth in the 



24 TIME AND SEASON OE 

first year of Cyrus, B. C. 536. That this is not the decree 
referred to by Gabriel, is evident from the substance of it, 
as it relates especially and only to the rebuilding of 
the temple. Ezra i. 1-4. Cyrus took nothing more upon 
himself than what immediately and only regarded the 
Temple. " The Lord hath charged me to build him a 
house at Jerusalem." Neither can these seventy weeks 
date from the second decree, which was granted by Darius 
Hystaspes, king of Persia, B. C. 519, as this decree re- 
lates exclusively to the continuation of the building of 
the temple began by Cyrus. Ezra vi. " And they builded 
and finished it, even the House of God, in the sixth year 
of the reign of Darius the king." Verses 14 and 15. 

The third decree was issued by Artaxerxes, in the 
seventh year of his reign, B. C. 457; but this decree also 
does not meet the requirements of the prophecy, inasmuch 
as it relates only to the endowment of the temple, and 
not to the building of the streets and walls of Jeru- 
salem. See Ezra vii. It then follows of necessity that 
these seventy weeks must have their beginning from the 
eourth and last commandment issued by these kings of 
Persia, viz. : From that which purposed only to rebuild 
the wall and streets of Jerusalem, in the twentieth 
year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia. As 
there is a perfect agreement between the commission 
which the king granted to Nehemiah and the requirement 
of the prophecy — " The streets and wall shall be built 
in troublous times/' there is no mention whatever of 
the temple in this prophecy. The decree of Cyrus was 
confined to the building of the temple alone ; that of Da- 
rius was confined to the finishing of it ) that of Arta- 
xerxes, given in his seventh year, was only to endow 
the temple. Whereas this, in the twentieth year of Ar- 
taxerxes, was the only one which immediately respected 
the city of Jerusalem and the building of her walls and 
streets, which were immediately rebuilt in pursuance of 
this commission. Here we see a perfect and literal 
agreement between the prophecy and this decree : taken 
in such a sense, there never was any other commandment 
given which meets the requirements of the prophecy. 
See Neh. ii. Under the authority of this grant to Nehe- 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 25 

liilali, the streets and walls were built even in trou- 
blous times.* The only point remaining to be established 
is to fix the year mentioned, Neh. ii. 1, as the twentieth 
of Artaxerxes, from which we are to date. This is found 
by consulting the unerring canon of Ptolemy, which 
learned men have ever considered "the surest guide we 
have in chronology, as it is built upon astronomical calcu- 
lations, and especially as it is also verified by its agree- 
ment everywhere with the Holy Scriptures." The learned 
Dr. Pridcaux observes : " The canon of Ptolemy is not to 
be receded from for the authority of any other writing 
whatsoever ; and, therefore, the learned have not allowed 
Petavius nor Archbishop Usher their respective liberties 
taken with this canon in their departure from it. It is 
called, "Ptolemy's Canon/' from Claudius Ptolemaus, a 
celebrated Alexandrian mathematician. He commences 
his canon in the year B. C. 747, with the reign of Nabonas- 
sar, king of Babylon, giving the names and length of the 
reigns of the successive Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, 
Egyptian and Boman kings to his own times, A, D. 137, 
ending with the reign of Antoninus. This canon being 
built upon astronomical observations, no year throughout 
the same can be broken in upon without violation and 
presumption. Its accuracy is demonstrated by more than 
twenty dates and computations of eclipses. The learned 
Bishop Lloyd styles this canon " the undoubted measurer 
of time among all the astronomers, both Jews and Gen- 
tiles." He fixes the first year of the reign of Artaxerxes 
Longimanus, B. C. 464; his twentieth year would there- 
fore be in the year B. C. 445, in 303 of Ptolemy's canon, 
and 4269 of the Julian Period. 

Having now shown that the only decree which fully 
answers the requirements of the prophecy, Dan. ix. 25, 

* It may here be observed, by way of confirmation, that from hence, 
even from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, as being the true Scripture 
beginning of these weeks, the ancient learned Christians date their 
computation of the sixty-nine weeks. Africanus Julus, who 
flourished in the beginning of the third century, Eusebius, Jerome, 
Theodoret, and after their example many of the modern expositors have 
done so likewise. Bede, Petavius, Mr. Dodwell, the learned Bishop 
Lloyd, Doctor Prideaux, and many others, and this is the time fixed 
for their commencement, as Dllerbelot tells us by Abulfaragc. 



2() J- ; ; TIME ASV> SEASON OF 

is that granted to Nehemiah in the twentieth year of the 
reign of Artgjxerxes, and that the instructions of Gabriel 
were to giveibaniel an understanding as to the duration 
of the vision and the point at which to commence reckon- 
ing ; and having ascertained from the best authority to 
which we have access, that the year 445 B.C. is the true 
time at which to begin the seventy weeks, we are now pre- 
pared to see " What manner of time the Spirit did here 
signify when he testified beforehand the sufferings of 
Christ and the glory which should follow." " Know, 
therefore, and understand, from the going forth of the 
commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Mes- 
siah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and 
ftvo weeks, (making sixty-nine weeks,) the streets and 
the wall shall be built again, even in troublous times." 
" And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be 
cut off." Here we see to what point in the life of the 
Messiah these sixty-nine weeks extend — it is to the 
sufferings of Christ. What manner of time was it; 
literal or symbolical ? To harmonize with the other por- 
tions of the vision, the time should be given in symbols 
also ; and so we find it is given. To prove this time we 
have only to pass down the stream of time, and mark 
each of the divisions of the seventy weeks here named. 
First. The scaling up or closing of the prophets or pro- 
phecy. Second. The cutting off of the Messiah. Third. 
The ending of the Jewish dispensation. The first is 
seven weeks, within which time the prophets were to 
cease delivering their testimony to this people. Com- 
mencing B. C. 445, we pass down forty-nine years, and 
find the canon of the Old Testament closed by Malaehi, 
396 B. C. We pass on to the next period, the end of the 
sixty-two weeks, (added to the seven,) the point fixed for 
the sufferings of Christ. " Messiah shall be cut off/' 
As this is a disputed time with chronologers, it is suffi- 
cient to refer to the declaration of Paul. Rom. v. 6. "In 
due time" or according to the time, Christ died. See, 
also, Gal. iv. 4. Again : " Now, before the feast of the 
passover, Jesus knew that his hour ivas come that he should 
depart out of this world." John xiii. 1. The third point 
is the ending of the Jewish dispensation: "Seventy weeks 
are determined upon thy people to finish the transgression." 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 27 

As Paul was especially called to be the apostle of the 
Gentiles, we may expect to find some point in his history 
which will mark the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 
years. We turn to Acts xiii., and there find him charg- 
ing upon the Jews a certain prophecy, on account of their 
rejecting Christ. Ver. 40. " Beware, therefore, lest that 
come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Be- 
hold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish, for 1 work a 
work in your days, a work which ye shall in nowise be- 
lieve, though a man declare it unto you." At length they 
contradict and blaspheme. Ver. 46. " Then Paul and 
Barnabas icaxed bold and said: It was necessary that 
the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but 
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy 
of eternal life, to, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath 
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a 
light of the Gentiles, that thou shoiddest be for salvation 
unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard 
this they icere glad, and glorified the word of the Lord" 
Here, then, is the fulfilment of the word of the Lord, 
A. D. 45, just 490 years after the decree given in the 
twentieth year of Artaxerxes, thus proving that the two 
thousand three hundred days were only symbols of years. 
Does not this make the vision sure f Can we not under- 
stand what manner of time is signified? The next point 
is the glory that shall follow. 445 B. C. from 2,300 leaves 
1855 A. D. But inasmuch as these periods must be made 
up of full years, it is clearly evident that their termina- 
tion must extend into the year A.D. 1856, just so far as 
the going forth of the decree entered into the year B. C. 
445 ; and as Nehemiah made his request unto the king 
in the First Jewish month, (JSfisan^) it is reasonable to 
suppose that the commandment did not go forth for some 
time afterwards, perhaps two months. The request being 
made at the feast of the passover, the decree was probably 
issued about the time of the next festivity — the feast of 
pentecost. From these premises it follows that the termi- 
nation of the times of the Gentiles will be at the feast of 
first fruits, or pentecost, A. D. 1856, in the month Sivan, 
the third of the Jewish year. 

" Behold, I will make thee know, or explain to thee, 
what shall be in the last end of the indignation; for at 



28 TIME AND SEASON OF 

the time appointed the end shall be/' was the promise of 
Gabriel. Pan.'viii. 19. He proceeds, in Dan. ix. 26, to 
fulfil this promise. " The people of the prince that shall 
come, (the Romans,) shall destroy the city and the sanc- 
tuary, (Jerusalem and the temple,) and the end thereof 
shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war it shall 
be cut off by desolations/' — (i. e. Jerusalem shall thence- 
forth remain trodden down of the Gentiles until their 
times (the 2,800 years,) shall be fully accomplished.) 
Then he, the Prince that shall come, (in the last end of 
the indignation,) shall confirm or make a covenant with 
many for one week of years, and in the midst or middle 
of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation 
to cease, and for the overspreading of abomination he shall 
make it desolate until the consummation, when that de- 
termined shall be poured upon the desolator." Ver. 27. 
What is it that is determined upon this desolator ? u lie 
shall be broken without hand." Dan. viii. 25. Here we 
have a brief synopsis of the events to take place imme- 
diately after the removal of the church. The person here 
named "The Prince," I believe, is the present Emperor of 
France, LOUIS NAPOLEON, who possesses in a remark- 
able degree the characteristics of the king of fierce counte- 
nance, (who is to appear as the head of the ancient Roman 
empire,) "when the transgressors are come to the full" 
See Dan. viii. 23. The expression, in this verse, "of fierce 
countenance," would be more truly rendered "of obdurate 
countenance;" literally, one whose firmness of features and 
complexion betray no emotion, and suffer no secret to be 
read — a man of imperturbable look. The Jews will fill up 
their transgression by receiving him as their Messiah or 
deliverer — (as foretold by our Lord Jesus : " If another 
shall come in his own name, him ye will receive," John 
v. 45,) — and making a covenant with him for one week 
of years, he will confer upon them the privilege of restor- 
ing their sacrifices and worship at Jerusalem; but after 
three and a half years he will break his covenant with 
them, offer himself to them as the Messiah, and command 
them to worship him. At this point he will become the 
Antichrist of 2 Thess. ii. 8. " Then shall that wicked 
one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the 
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 2d 

of his coining." Being filled with all the energy of 
Satan, he will have power to work with signs and ly- 
ing wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteous- 
ness. " All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, 
whose names are not written in the book of life of the 
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. xiii. 
8. "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not seen 
since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever 
shall be. And except those days should be shortened, 
there should no flesh be saved." Matt. xxiv. 21. The 
prophecies of Zach. 12th and 14th chapters; Zeph. iii. 
8 to 20th ver., and Joel ii., will, during his reign, be ful- 
filled. This will be the time of "Jacob's trouble; but 
he shall be delivered out of it" by the appearing of 
the Lord Jesus and all his saints — in the clouds of heaven 
coming to Jerusalem. "Then shall the Lord go forth 
and fight against those nations, (led on by the Anti- 
christ,) as when he fought in the day of battle." " And 
his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives 
which is before Jerusalem on the east." Zech. xiv. 3 to 
5. " But He (the king of impenetrable countenance,) 
shall be broken without hand." " He shall come to his 
end, and none shall help him." 

This we believe to be the truth ; and believing we re- 
joice in hope of the glory. Seeing the wonderful har- 
mony on these points, it seems that the hand of God has 
indeed guarded them, that the wise may understand ac- 
cording to his sure promise. 



THE SEASON OF THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 

The previous remarks will, I trust, have prepared the 
reader's mind for a careful perusal of the following in- 
quiry into the season of the removal of the church from 
the earth to meet her Lord in the air. 

" To every thing there is a season, and a time to every 
purpose." Eccl. iii. 1. 

There are various regulations in the law of Moses re- 
specting the great feasts, which would be of much interest 
to us, could we in every case discern the precise object in 

3* 



30 TIME AND SEASON OF 

view. Our Lord says: " that all things must be fulfilled 
which were written in the law of Moses. ;; Luke xxiv. 44. 
Again : " Think not that I am come to destroy the law 
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law till 
all be fulfilled." Matt. v. 17 and 18. 

There were three great festivals appointed in the law by 
Jehovah for the nation of Israel — the passover, the feast 
of weeks or pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles. On 
each of these occasions, it was expected of every male 
person that he should go up to Jerusalem to worship. 
u Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before 
the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose: in 
the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, 
and in the feast of tabernacles • and they shall not appear 
before the Lord empty." Deut. xvi. 16. Each, there- 
fore, of these festivals was a general assembly of the peo- 
ple whom the Lord had chosen as his own inheritance, at 
the place which he had selected to put his name there. 
Each of these feasts had a distinctive and peculiar cha- 
racter, referring to the dealings of God with his people, 
and intended to convey instruction to their minds, to 
awaken their gratitude for past mercies, and to lead their 
hopes and expectations forward to prospective blessings. 

The first in order was the feast of unleavened bread, 
or the passover, commemorating their deliverance from 
Egypt, and prefigured the redemption of the church, by 
the shedding of the blood of the Lamb. One sheaf was 
then waved before the Lord, typifying Christ the first 
fruits of the spiritual harvest. After seven full weeks 
came pentecost, the feast of weeks, an offering of 
thanksgiving to the Lord, for the increase of the first 
fruits of the harvest; thus typifying the ingather- 
ing of the church, as the first fruits of the labours of 
Christ, and represented by the two leavened loaves, in 
contrast with the unleavened bread, and the pure grain 
in the sheaf, offered up on the "morrow after the Sab- 
bath," at the passover, which was the beginning of the 
harvest. See Lev. xxiii. 10 and 11. It is remarkable 
that these two feasts are so intimately connected, as both 
to be called the feast of first fruits. Lev. xxvi. 10. " Then 



TIIE FIRST RESURRECTION. 31 

ye Bhall bring a sheaf (or handful — see margin,) of the 
first fruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall 
wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you ; n 
thus showing that the pure unleavened offering of the 
Lord was accepted by the Father for us. Ver. 17. " Ye 
shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two 
tenth deals ; they shall be of fine flour ; they shall be baken 
with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the Lord." 
Thus prefiguring the intimate connexion that exists be- 
tween Christ and his church, " which is his body." These 
two offerings bounded the harvest, the one being offered 
at the beginning, the other at the end of the harvest. 
Christ the " first fruits from the dead," the first of the 
new creation, introducing life and immortality to a world 
under sentence of death, the earnest and the pledge of the 
resurrection of those who, having been " planted in the 
likeness of his death," shall come forth from their habi- 
tations when the purpose of God is accomplished, and ho 
shall have taken out of the nations " a people for his 
name," and thus the wheat harvest shall then be gathered 
unto the Lord. 

It may be well now, in order more fully to comprehend 
the purposes of God, as set forth in these two feasts, to 
dwell more fully on the various points of the law govern- 
ing their observance, that we may, if possible, ascertain 
how or when they are to be fulfilled. "With respect to 
the feast of unleavened bread, or the passover, there can 
be no doubt of its full accomplishment (and that even in 
the most minute particular,) in the person and work of 
our blessed Saviour. " Christ our passover is sacrificed 
for us." 1 Cor. iv. 7. 

Let us carefully examine the requirements of the law, 
and see if every jot and tittle has been fulfilled. 

First. Exod. xii. 3. " Speak ye unto all the congrega- 
tion of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month (the 
first,) 2d ver., they shall take to them every man a lamb." 
So Christ entered into Jerusalem before the passover at 
which he suffered, on the tenth day of Nisan, the first 
month. John xii. 1. 

Second. " Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male 
of the first year." 5th ver. " Whatsoever hath a blemish 
shall ye not offer, for it shall not be acceptable for you." 



32 TIME AND SEASON OF 

Lev. xxii. 20. So Christ our Lamb was without blemish 
or spot. " Who did no sin, neither was guile found in 
his mouth." 1 Peter ii. 22. " And ye know that he was 
manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." 
1 John iii. 5. " Neither was any deceit in his mouth." 
Isa. liii. 9. 

Third. " And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day 
of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congre- 
gation of Israel shall kill it, between the two evenings/ ; 
(see margin,) ver. 6; see, also, Num. ix. 2, 3; as the sun 
was going down. Deut.xvi. 16. So Christ" by wicked hands 
was crucified and slain." Acts ii. 23. "For of a truth 
against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, 
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and 
the people of Israel, were gathered together." Acts iv. 27. 
Here we see the whole assembly gathered together to kill 
the lamb, and that at the precise time of killing the pas- 
chal lamb. " And it was about the sixth hour, and there 
was a darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." 
"'And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, 
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit ; and having 
said this, he gave up the ghost." Luke xxiii. 44 and 46. 
See, also, Mark xv. 34-37. See Deut. xvi. 5, 6. Com- 
pare Heb. xiii. 11, 12. John xix. 17, 18. 

Fourth. The blood of the lamb was to redeem them 
from the power of the destroying angel, or angel of death. 
" And when he seeth the blood, the Lord will pass over 
the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into 
your house to smite you." Exod. xii. 23. So Christ, 
through his death, has redeemed his people from the 
power of him who had the power of death, that is, the 
devil. Heb. ii. 14. " Forasmuch as ye know that ye 
were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the 
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and 
without spot, who verily was fore-ordained before the 
foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last 
times for you." 1 Peter i. 18. "Behold the Lamb of God, 
which beareth away the sin of the world." John i. 29. 

Fifth. They were all required to eat of it, " every 
man who desired to be delivered." 4th and 8th verses. 
So Christ says : " Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of 
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." John 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 83 

vi. 53. That is, unless we partake of the Paschal Lamb 
in God's appointed way, we shall be left to the power of 
the destroying angel, the sentence of death being already 
passed upon us. " He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life;" (because he belongs no longer to the 
first creation, but to the second.) " He that believeth not 
the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth 
on him." John iii. 36. " He that heareth my words, and 
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and 
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from 
death unto life." Jolyi v. 24. Here is the simple truth ; 
by virtue of the work and offering of Christ alone we are 
delivered from the power of the destroyer, death, and by 
faith we become partakers of the life of the second Adam, 
the Lord from heaven. " I give unto my sheep eternal 
life." Or, in the beautiful and simple language of John, 
the beloved disciple : " He that hath the Son hath life, 
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 
John v. 12. He is not redeemed from death: dust thou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou return, is still in force against 
all who have their part in the first creation only. 

Sixth. And ye shall eat it with your loins girded, 
your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; " 
11th verse ; to remind them that they were only sojourners 
in a strange land, waiting for the Lord to come and de- 
liver them. So we who believe in Jesus are exhorted to 
consider ourselves as only strangers, and pilgrims, and so- 
journers; we are " not of this world ; " our citizenship is 
in heaven, " from whence also we look for the Saviour, the 
Lord Jesus Christ." Phil. iii. 20. We are commanded 
to stand in a waiting position, looking for and constantly 
expecting deliverance. "Let your loins be girded about, 
and your lights burning; (waiting for the morning light, 
for the ' day-star to arise/) And ye yourselves like unto 
men that wait for their Lord." Luke xii. 35, 36. 

Seventh. " Neither shall ye break a bone thereof." 
Ver. 46. " They brake not his legs ; " see John xix. 32, 
33. Thus we see that not one jot or tittle did pass away 
until all was fulfilled, but that Christ, as the Lamb, ful- 
filled every requirement of the law. Then on the " mor- 
row after the Sabbath," the next ensuing Sabbath; that 
is, on the appointed first day of the week, when they were 



34 TIME AND SEASON OF 

required to offer up the wave sheaf of pure grain, (un- 
leavened,) see Lev. xxiii. 10, 11, Christ rose from the 
dead, and thus became the wave sheaf, or the " first 
fruits of them that sleep," 1 Cor. xv. 20, — the very day 
the law directed the first fruits of the harvest to be 
waved before the Lord, thus showing that he (Christ) 
was the substance of this shadow. In him there was no 
sin, no leaven. The sheaf or handful, (as it reads in the 
margin,) no doubt prefigured not only the resurrection of 
the Lord, but also the " multitude of captives " which he 
delivered in honour of his own resurrection, to show his 
power over the vanquished enemy. See Matt, xxvii. 52, 
53. Eph. iv. 8. " When he ascended up on high, he 
led a multitude of captives, (see margin,) and gave gifts 
unto men." With this offering of the wave sheaf no sin- 
offering was coupled ; it was offered only with a meat- 
offering and a burnt-offering, thus showing the perfection 
of Christ. " And ye shall offer that day when ye wave 
the sheaf an he-lamb without blemish of the first year, for a 
burnt-offering unto the Lord." " And the meat-offering 
shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an 
offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour." 
Lev. xxiii. 12, 13. " Thou art my beloved Son, in thee 
I am well pleased." Luke iii. 22. Jesus was in himself 
a sweet savour to Jehovah. Thus we see that Jesus our 
blessed Lord fulfilled in himself every requirement of the 
law respecting the first of the three great feasts; the feast 
of passover or unleavened bread, from the taking of the 
lamb without blemish, on the tenth day of the first month, 
until the offering up of the wave sheaf on the morrow 
after the Sabbath; nor has he left one jot or tittle in any 
manner unfulfilled. 

Fifty days after this came the second great feast, the 
feast of pentecost or feast of weeks. " And ye shall count 
unto you, from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day 
that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sab- 
baths shall be complete." " Even unto the morrow after 
the seventh Sabbath, (the eighth or resurrection day,) 
shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat- 
offering unto the Lord." " Ye shall bring out of your 
habitations two wave-loaves of two tenth deals; they shall 
be of fine flour ; they shall be baken with leaven ; they 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 35 

are the first fruits unto the Lord." Here we see the 
church typified by the leavened oblation of first fruits 
offered unto the Lord; and here again we see the wonder- 
ful union which exists between Christ and his church ; 
for we as well as Jesus are called the first fruits unto the 
Lord. " We are a kind of first fruits of his creatures, 
begotten of his own will." Jas. i. 18. And inasmuch as 
this offering must be mixed and baked with leaven, to ful- 
fil the requirements of the law, it is very clear that it can 
have no reference to the person or work of the Lord Jesus, 
for leaven is always in the Scriptures put as the repre- 
sentative of corruption or sin. " The leaven of the Pha- 
risees, which is hypocrisy," — " the leaven of malice and 
wickedness," — " the old leaven," are phrases which must 
instantly occur to the mind of even a superficial reader of 
the divine oracles; while the warning, "know ye not that 
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," and the ex- 
hortation, "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven;" and 
here, let it be remembered, that when the Apostle enjoins 
the removal of the old leaven, he does not bid us put in 
the new. His words are, "Purge out, therefore, the old 
leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are un- 
leavened." 1 Cor. v. 7. Again, the leaven (a corrupt 
and hidden thing) which the woman hid in three mea- 
sures of meal, represents the fearful apostacy which en- 
tered into the church in the apostles' days, and which 
has ever since continued to work secretly, but surely, until 
it shall end at length in bringing the professing church 
into that state, when puffed up with pride and riches, 
she shall say, "I have need of nothing," and Christ 
the Lord shall "'spue her out of his mouth." Rev. iii. 
16, 17. Where Christ and his perfect work were set 
forth by an offering, as we have seen in the feast of the 
passover, all leaven was most strictly forbidden. Not 
even any vessel that had contained leaven was, in any 
manner, to be used, but "ye shall put away leaven out 
of your houses." Exodus, xii. 15. ISut when the parti- 
cipation with Christ, of the imperfect human worshippers, 
to whom evil (however unwillingly) adheres, is what a 
given offering typifies, (as in the feast of Pentecost,) then, 
as the symbol or this evil, was the leaven to be 
used. No leaven, however, was allowed to be burnt on 



36 TIME AND SEASON OF 

GkxTs altar; and so, this offering Laving sin in it, being 
" mixed with leaven," could neither stand the test of the 
fire of the altar, nor be an offering, made by fire, of a sweet 
savour, unto the Lord ; and yet it was to be both offered 
and accepted: "Ye shall offer it, but it shall not be 
burnt." Lev. ii. 12. "For ye shall burn no leaven, or 
any honey, (which also is liable to fermentation or cor- 
ruption,) in any offering of the Lord, made by fire." The 
question may be asked, Why or how then were these 
leavened loaves accepted? Something was offered "with 
it," for the sake of which the leavened first-fruits were 
accepted. They offered, with the leavened bread, a burnt- 
offering, a meat-offering, a peace-offering, and a sin-offer- 
ing. Lev. xxiii. 17 to 21; Num. xxviii. 26 to 31. For 
leaven, being found in the oblation of first-fruits, a sin- 
offering was needed with it ; and the priest waved all to- 
gether. "The priest shall wave them, with the bread of 
the first-fruits, for a wave-offering before the Lord." 
Thus we see that the church is blessed and accepted in 
Christ and with Christ. She is one with Christ. And 
when the church shall be presented to God, as typified by 
the wave loaves, she will come, not alone, into his pre- 
sence, but with the sweet savour of all that Christ has 
been for her, and with the witness that he has met her 
sin. For, as truly as the sins of the church are laid upon 
Christ, so truly is the righteousness of Christ imputed to 
the believer. "Christ also loved the church, and gave 
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with 
the washing of water by the word : that he might pre- 
sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or 
wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy, 
and without blemish." Eph. v. 26, 27. "Christ shall 
p escnt the church faultless, before the presence of his 
glory, v>ith exceeding joy," (Jude, verse 24;) — thus 
Having all the value of his perfect work attached to it. 
In itself, it cannot stand the trial of God's holiness — for 
no measure of oil can neutralize the leaven — but in Christ, 
and with Christ, and for Christ, the church is accepted, 
even as he is. " For both he that sanctifieth, and they 
who are sanctified, are all of one : for which cause he is 
not ashamed to call them brethren," saying, "I will de- 
clare thy name unto my brethren : in the midst of the 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 37 

church will I sing praise unto thee." And again, li Be- 
hold I and the children which God hath given me." Hcb. 
ii. 11 to 13. As Christ's death occurred at the Passover, 
and his resurrection alone fulfilled the first wave-offer- 
ing, the wave-sheaf, have we not every reason to believe 
and expect, that Jesus will receive to himself the church, 
represented by the second wave-offering of two loaves ? 
" For we, being many, are one bread and one body." 1 
Cor. x. 17, — at the season of the feast of Pentecost — for 
this type of the two wave loaves has never yet had its anti- 
type — and as it was only the resurrection of Christ that 
fulfilled the first wave-offering of the wave-sheaf, it can 
only be the resurrection of the sleeping ones, and the 
changes from mortal to immortality, of those who are 
alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, the great 
life-giver, that can fulfil the second wave -offering of the 
two loaves : " For we, which are alive, and remain unto 
the coming of the Lord, shall not go before them which 
are asleep : " " For the dead in Christ shall rise first; then 
we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up to- 
gether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 
air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Here we 
see the whole church — the two loaves — the risen and the 
changed ones, waved and accepted together, not sepa- 
rately, although two, but " they shall be waved together." 
Lev. xxiii. 20. The church complete in its head. 
" Christ, the first-fruits, afterwards (the second first 
fruits) they that are Christ's at his coming." 

But again, Pentecost is called the feast of harvest, 
i. e., the wheat harvest, (for the sheaf at the Passover 
was barley — barley being ripe much earlier than wheat;) 
"And the first-fruits of thy labours, which thou hast 
sown in thy field." Exodus, xxiii. 16. Is not the church 
the first-fruits of the labours, or work of Christ the 
husbandman ? He that soweth the good seed, or wheat, 
is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed 
(or wheat) are the children of the kingdom, the harvest 
(when the first-fruits are to be offered) is the end of the 
age, or dispensation. Mat. xiii. 36 to 43. " Of his own 
will begat he us, with the word of truth, that we should 
be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures/' James, i. 18. 
4 



38 TIME AND SEASON OF 

" That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first 
trusted in Christ." Eph. i. 12. " These were redeemed 
from among men, the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb." 
Rev. xiv. 4. 

Pentecost was the birth-day of the church ; it was on 
that memorable day that she first stood forth, and on 
which the Holy Ghost was first given, Acts, ii. 1, whose 
great office is to glorify Christ, by testifying, not of him- 
self, but of Jesus, John, xvi. 13 to 15, and thus ac- 
complish the number of the elect, by gathering out the 
church, during the absence of her Lord, typified by the 
seven full weeks, or fifty days, between the offering up 
of the sheaf and two loaves. The church is then the 
first-fruits of the Spirit, born of the Spirit, sanctified by 
the Spirit, through the word of truth, and sealed by the 
Spirit until the day of redemption. Eph. i. 3 to 14. 
That day of redemption must be the day of Pentecost. 
Unless this be so, I do not see how or when the type of 
the two wave loaves can be fulfilled, or its antitype be 
accomplished, for the church is declared to be the first- 
fruits of the harvest, or work of Christ ; and, the Saviour 
has declared, "That not one jot or one tittle shall, in 
anywise, pass away from the law, until all be fulfilled." 
As the two loaves could only be offered up at that 
especial time, so, it appears to me, that the only time the 
church can be offered up, is on the day of Pentecost. 
Christ rose, as the first-fruits, from the dead, the first 
quickened by the Spirit of Holiness, the first possessor 
of the immortal life, the head of his body the church, at 
the beginning of the harvest, as the wave sheaf of pure 
grain in the ear. All who are to reign with him form 
the harvest : the two loaves are offered at the end of the 
harvest. Exod. xxxiv. 22. "And thou shalt observe 
the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest." 

The company spoken of in the 4th and 5th chapters of 
Revelation, as in heaven before the opening of the seals, 
or pouring out of the vials, must undoubtedly be the first- 
fruits. For "they sung a new song, saying, Thou art 
worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, 
for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy 
blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people, and 
nation j and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 39 

and we shall reign on the earth." Now it is only the first- 
born who have a right to the priesthood, or kingly autho- 
rity. See Numbers, viii. 16, 17. And as all cannot at- 
tain to the authority of kings and priests, how earnestly 
ought we to seek, by watchfulness and prayer, to be 
counted worthy to escape all those things that are coming 
upon the earth, and thus be privileged to stand before 
the Son of Man. Luke xxi. 36. Oh ! for a more simple 
faith in the promises of God, through Jesus Christ, to 
enable us to walk more humbly, and for strength to walk 
more steadfastly ; ever looking to Jesus, the author and 
finisher of our salvation — for he is our storehouse of all 
blessings and graces. Let not unbelief prevent us from 
attaining to this privilege. " For to whom sware he that 
they should not enter into his rest, but to them that be- 
lieved not. So we see, that they could not enter in be- 
cause of unbelief: let us, therefore, fear lest a promise 
being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should 
seem to come short of it." Heb. iii. 18, 19. The church 
has not yet entered into her rest; there is, therefore, a 
fear — a danger of our losing the opportunity of entering 
in — through a want of faith in the promises of God. Re- 
member, that even after the children of Israel were de- 
livered from Egypt, and God had promised to bring them 
safely into the laud of rest or promise, they all, with the 
exception of Caleb and Joshua, fell in the wilderness, 
through their unbelief. " Behold, the Lord thy God 
hath set the land before thee; go up and possess it, as 
the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, 
neither be discouraged." Deut. i. 21. " Notwithstanding 
ye would not go up, but rebelled against the command- 
ment of the Lord your God." Verse 26. "Ye did not 
believe the Lord your God : and the Lord heard the voice 
of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying : Surely, 
there shall not one of this evil generation see that good 
land which I sware to give unto your fathers, save Caleb 
and Joshua, who only followed the Lord wholly and be- 
lieved his word." See Numbers, chapter xiv. "Now, all 
these things happened unto them for ensamples, or types ; 
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the 
ends of the world have come. Wherefore, let him that 
thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 1 Cor. x. 



40 TIME AND SEASON OF 

11, 12. "I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, 
though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having 
saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards 
destroyed them that believed not." Jude, ver. 5. "Now, 
whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written 
for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort 
of the Scriptures, might have hope." Rom. xv. 4. 

We have now glanced at the various points of the law 
governing the observance of these two feasts, the pass- 
over and pentecost; and we have seen how every jot and 
tittle- of the law was fulfilled by our blessed Lord, Jesus 
Christ, with respect to the first of them. Can we, for 
one moment, doubt that the second one, the feast of first- 
fruits, shall not, in every point, receive the same accurate 
fulfilment ? No, the promise of Christ is given ; " one jot 
or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, 
until all be fulfilled : heaven and earth shall pass away, 
but my word shall not pass away." Mat. xxiv. 35. 
"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one 
tittle of the law to fail." Luke xvi. 17. Before closing, 
I would remark, that the address of Christ to his spouse 
or bride, is represented as being given at the season of 
Pentecost — the season of the Passover being too early, 
and that of the Feast of Tabernacles being too late — for 
this laDguage to be appropriate : "My beloved spake, and 
said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come 
away: for, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and 
gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the 
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is 
heard in our land. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, 
and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. 
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." Song ii. 

We will now pass on to the consideration of the third, 
or last of the great feasts — " The Feast of Taber- 
nacles." This was, in many respects, the greatest and 
most remarkable of these solemnities, so that it has ac- 
quired the title of "The Feast," by way of eminence. 
The law governing the observance of this feast is also 
found in Lev., 23d chapter, from the 23d verse, to the 
44th verse, inclusive, which it will be well to read care- 
fully; and here, I would remark, we find additional proof, 
that the views we have advanced with regard to the anti- 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 41 

type, or fulfilment of the feast of first-fruits, must be cor- 
rect, inasmuch as this feast (the feast of tabernacles) was 
only celebrated after the harvest and vintage of the earth 
were ended; and all Scripture agrees in testifying, that the 
church shall be caught up before the vintage of the earth 
shall be gathered, even as Noah, and Lot, and Elijah, 
and the Christians in Jerusalem, were all delivered be- 
fore the judgments of God descended; so, also, " Because 
thou hast kept the patient expectation of my coming, I 
also will keep thee from (or out of) the hour of tempta- 
tion, which shall come upon all the world, to try them 
that dwell upon the whole habitable globe." Rev. iii. 10. 
The offering of the first-fruits, or two wave loaves, 
marked the ending of the wheat harvest — " Gather the 
wheat into my garner." The feast of tabernacles marks, 
not only the ending of the fruits and vintage of the earth, 
but it was designed as a thanksgiving to Jehovah, after 
they were all gathered, "At the end of the year." Exo. 
xxiii. 16. It was appointed to commence upon the 
fifteenth day of the seventh month, the very next day 
which followed the conclusion of the Feast of Trum- 
pets. There can be little doubt, that the feast of trum- 
pets was intended as a prophetic type of the day of the 
Lord. The trumpet is a military instrument, and is 
always significant of war. The trumpet was to sound 
for fourteen days, expressing the duration and tumult of 
the day of the Lord. Nor is it impossible, as some per- 
sons have conjectured, that the fourteen days of the feast 
of trumpets may indicate the continuance of the day of 
the Lord fourteen years. But, however this may be, the 
feast of trumpets was to be immediately succeeded by the 
feast of tabernacles. And this may be considered be- 
yond question, as a prophetic type, representing to us the 
progress of those great events which are now fast approach- 
ing. Suddenly, even as a thief in the night, shall the 
Lord remove his church : those that are looking, and 
waiting, and expecting him shall be caught up to meet 
the Lord in the air ; and then shall the day of the Lord 
break out upon a sleeping, careless world, and shall run 
its disastrous course to the fall of Anti-Christ: every 
year more dreadful and calamitous than before; and one 

4* 



42 TIME AND SEASON OF 

judgment crowding upon another. But when Anti- 
Christ has fallen, and the Lord has begun his reign, then 
the feast of trumpets shall conclude : the instruments of 
war shall be succeeded by those of peace. The feast of 
tabernacles shall then begin ; to continue, year after year, 
through the millennial age. This festival was also pre- 
ceded, on the tenth day of the month, by the great day 
of atonement, in which the blood was sprinkled on the 
mercy-seat, and the sins of the congregation of Israel 
were carried by the scape-goat into the land of oblivion. 
On this solemn day, also, the jubilee trumpet sounded 
every fiftieth year, and brought back every man to his 
possessions, and proclaimed the glad tidings of the re- 
lease of every debtor. The feast of tabernacles could 
only be celebrated properly after they entered into the 
land. "And it shall be, when thou art come into the 
land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheri- 
tance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; 
that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the 
earth, which thou shalt bring of the land that the Lord 
thy God giveth thee, and shall put it in a basket, and 
shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall 
choose to place his name there (Jerusalem.) And thou 
shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and 
say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, 

THAT I AM COME INTO THE COUNTRY, which the Lord 

sware unto our fathers, to give us." Deut. xxvi. 1st to 
10th verse. Here we see the earthly calling of Israel 
in contrast with the heavenly calling of the church. 
Israel, God's earthly people, shall be planted in their own 
land, as the fruit of the earth. The church, represented 
by the two wave loaves, shall be removed from the earth, 
and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The church 
is only the first-fruit — the earnest of that harvest, which 
shall be gathered unto the Lord, by the instrumentality 
of Israel, during the Millennium. "Now, if the fall of 
them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of 
them, the riches of the Gentiles, how much more 
their fulness." Rom. xi. 12. It was not possible for 
Israel to keep this feast while in the wilderness, but only 
after they had entered into and obtained possession of the 
promised inheritance. While the church is brought into 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 43 

view so fully, in both the former feasts, particularly in 
that of the first-fruits at Pentecost, in this she is not 
seen at all — showing that the feast of tabernacles was 
designed especially for the children of Israel. 

It was on the anniversary of this great feast that Ezra 
and Nehemiah began anew, after the Babylonish captivity, 
to keep the law. " From the first day of the seventh 
month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord/' 
Ezra iii. 6, — and it appears from Neh. vii. 18, "that 
since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day," 
(that is, after their restoration to Jerusalem,) they kept 
this feast in a manner they had never kept it before dur- 
ing their whole history, from their first entry into the 
promised land until they entered it the second time. It 
is not a little remarkable, that in the future restoration of 
Israel, which is promised to take place after the purpose 
of God is accomplished by the gathering out of the church, 
" God having visited the Gentiles or nations, and taken 
out of them a people for his name, as the first fruits or 
earnest of these blessings which he has in reserve for 
all nations, shall return unto them and fulfil his promise. 
"After this I will return, and will build again the 
tabernacle of David which is fallen down: and I will 
build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up ; that 
the residue of men might seek after the Lord." Acts xv. 16. 
After they shall have obtained the possession of their own 
city and land. It is remarkable, that the passover and 
feast of tabernacles, are the only feasts spoken of in con- 
nexion with their future glorious restoration. Our 
blessed Lord and Saviour has, indeed, promised that his 
church shall j oin with him in celebrating the passover, when 
it will be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, (Luke, xxii. 
16,) — and when the whole church or congregation can 
join together in its celebration, having then been fully 
delivered from the power of the destroyer — death; 
and he shall have clothed them with immortality and 
eternal life. The feast of first-fruits or pentecost is not 
mentioned: it will then have been fulfilled. The two 
loaves having been offered up, the oneness of the church 
with Jesus, her Lord, will then be fully established and 
made manifest to all, both in earth and heaven, for ever, 
even for ever and ever ; there will, therefore, be no fur- 



44 TIME AND SEASON OF 

ther necessity for the observance of that feast. That 
which, above all else, marks the difference between the 
church and Israel, and indeed between the church and 
the entire population of the millennial earth, is, that the 
church is blessed in Christ, and with Christ. Israel 
and the millennial nations will be blessed by him and 
under his sway. The church is Christ's body — his bride — 
and participates thus in his exaltation to be head over all 
things, both in heaven and on earth. As the body par- 
ticipates with the head of all the vital energies by which 
the whole is actuated, so will the church, at the appearing 
of Jesus, be made the partaker of his life; and as the 
bride participates in all that is possessed by her lord, so 
is the church, the bride, the Lamb's wife, to participate 
in his inheritance of all things. The prayer of Jesus will 
then be answered, u That they all may be one ; as thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent 
me." John xvii. 17-24. 

The Pentecost, then, will be the church's portion ex- 
clusively, redeemed from among men, " the first fruits unto 
God and the Lamb." 

But we find, in the 45th chapter of Ezek., 21st to 25th 
verses inclusive, that after the children of Israel shall 
have been brought back, and fully restored to their own 
land, and the Temple, so minutely described by Ezekiel 
in the 40th chapter and onward, shall have been built, 
and its worship restored, particular directions are then 
given for the observance of both the Passover, in the first 
month, and the feast of Tabernacles, in the seventh 
month; but nowhere is there any mention made of the 
feast of Pentecost or first fruits being observed by Israel 
after their future restoration, which to my mind is an- 
other powerful evidence that the removal of the church 
is the great antitype of the two wave loaves offered up on 
the day of Pentecost, when both those who sleep, and 
those who shall be changed., shall ascend together to meet 
the Lord in the air. The work of the Holy Ghost will 
then be fully completed, and he himself be withdrawn from 
the world; the number of the elect be accomplished. The 
wheat harvest being fully ripe, shall be gathered into his 
garner into a place of security, and there preserved in 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 45 

safety until the vintage of the earth shall have been fully 
ripened under the reign of Antichrist. (See Isa. xxvi. 20, 
21.) The fruit of the earth (man's wickedness) having 
become fully ripe, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of 
man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a 
sharp sickle, shall thrust in his sickle and reap the harvest 
and vintage of the earth, as described by John, Rev. xiv. 
14 to 20 ; Joel iii. ; Tsa. Ixiii. 1 to 6. After which, he 
himself shall bring again the captivity of his people Israel. 
" Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 
they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought 
up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But 
the Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed 
of the house of Israel out of the north countries whither 
I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own 
land." Jer. xxiii. 5 to 8. After the Lord shall have 
thus restored them, we find that the Lord himself shall 
reign over them at Jerusalem ) and when the Jewish 
temple shall have been rebuilt, there shall be daily sacri- 
fices offered in Jerusalem by Jewish priests assisted by 
actual Levites. But these sacrifices shall not be offered 
like the ancient sacrifices, as an atonement for sin, but 
rather as an acknowledgment that, even during the Mil- 
lennium, when Satan is bound, and there shall be no 
tempter, men are still sinners, — the difference between 
these future sacrifices and all past sacrifices being that the 
ancient Jewish sacrifices were intended, through Christ, 
to obtain forgiveness for unpardoned sin; while the millen- 
nial Jewish sacrifices will be an acknowledgment of the 
grace of God on account of sins already pardoned. We 
also observe that, in the passage above referred to, (Ezek. 
xlv.) the sacrifices at the great festivals are very different 
from those mentioned in Lev. xxiii., and may we not from 
this justly conclude, that a difference in the sacrifices is a 
proof of a difference or change in the intention of that 
sacrifice. The Lamb of God having taken away the sin 
of the world, a lamb is no longer to be killed at the pass- 
over; but in its place, "upon that day, (when their final 
deliverance having been fully completed, is to be called to 
mind,) shall the prince prepare for himself, and for all the 
people of the land, a bullock for a sin-offering." Ezek. 
xlv. 22. There is no further need for a lamb to be then 



46 TIME AND SEASON OF 

offered up, Jesus having offered one sacrifice for sin for 
ever. " Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." And 
so, also, in the feast of tabernacles, " in the seventh month, 
in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in 
the feast of seven days." Ezek. xlv. 25. When once the 
Lord shall have returned to mount Zion, he will bring 
down heaven along with him, upon the earth, and spread 
the life and motion of celestial things throughout all the 
recesses of the globe. He will restore the tribes of Israel 
to their renowned and sacred land ; rebuild Jerusalem as 
the capital of the world, and the joy of the whole earth; 
raise the temple from its ruins to more than its ancient 
splendour, and fill its sanctuary with the brightness of his 
own presence. Then shall it be truly said : " The Lord 
is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before 
him." All the nations of the globe shall be attracted by 
the fame of his august dominion. They shall tell it out 
among the nations that the Lord is King, and that he 
shall judge the people righteously; and this report shall 
bring up all nations to Jerusalem to worship the King, 
the Lord of hosts; and thus shall the feast of tabernacles 
especially be Israel's portion — a feast of thanksgiving for 
the mercies and blessings of God to them, in preserving 
them, and in restoring them again to their own land. 
Yet this beautiful display of the mercies of God to Israel 
is not to be hidden from the Gentiles. " For from the 
rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, 
my name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every 
place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure 
offering; for my name shall be great among the heathen, 
saith the Lord of hosts." Mai. i. 11. All nations are in- 
vited, and even commanded to attend; and severe judg- 
ments are denounced on all those who shall refuse the 
invitation. For " it shall come to pass, that every one 
that is left of all the nations which came against Jeru- 
salem, shall even go up from year to year, to worship the 
King the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of taber- 
nacles." " And it shall be, that whoso will not come up 
of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship 
the King the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no 
rain." Zech. xiv. 16, 17. The nations will thus be com- 
pelled to choose between famine and obedience. " And 



THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 47 

*f the family of Egypt go not up, (who in the course of 
nature do not require rain,) there shall be the plague, 
wherewith the Lord shall smite the heathen that come not 
up to the feast of tabernacles." These words clearly prove 
that, during the millennial period, there will be refractory 
nations, and national judgments. The reign of Christ is, 
in fact, a period of transition. It is a transition from the 
government of man to the government of God. Man has 
governed the world for 6,000 years, and everything has 
become worse and worse, and shall continue to grow worse 
and worse, until "he come whose right it is to reign." 
After the millennial reign a new earth shall arise, in which 
God shall be all in all, and then everything will be per- 
fect as well as everlasting. But in the interval between 
the two, the reign of Christ comes in, which is a period of 
transition, and therefore combines the imperfections of 
the former state with the perfections of the latter state, 
and partakes partly of the nature of the kingdom of man, 
and partly of that of the kingdom of God — the imperfec- 
tions being in the persons governed, not in the Governor 
himself. For this reason the millennial reign is placed, 
not under the government of a mere man, nor under that 
of God only ; but, as a transition state, it is placed under 
one who is both God and man — the man Christ Jesus — 
the two-fold nature of the sovereign corresponding exactly 
to the two-fold character of the period itself. The resi- 
dence of the Lord, and of the glorified saints, is in heaven, 
not upon earth. The new Jerusalem, the heavenly city, 
will be the capital of this new empire, and the whole 
earth will constitute the territory. From the council- 
chamber of the Jerusalem above, the decrees of govern- 
ment will be transmitted to the Jerusalem below, and to 
all the world; and they will be enforced by irresistible 
power. We have the express declaration of Scripture, 
that the glorified saints shall exercise authority over all 
the earth. "The kingdom and the dominion, under the 
whole heavens, shall be given to the saints of the Most 
High." The saints of the Most High shall take the 
kingdom, and shall possess the kingdom for ever, even 
for ever and ever." Dan. vii. These words admit of no 
question; they assign, beyond doubt, a degree of power 



48 THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 

and dignity to the glorified saints, which surpasses the 
highest authority of man : and this power is to continue 
for ever. The Lord himself being the fountain of honour, 
the glorified saints are invested by him with varieties of 
dignity and power. Each man will be advanced accord- 
ing to his merits, and according to his former labours; 
and then shall be realized what we so often find in the 
Scriptures — salvation is of grace, free sovereign grace — 
but "A reward according to works." One saint will be 
appointed over ten cities ; and one, less distinguished by 
zeal in the present life, will be rewarded, in the life to 
come, with the inferior government of only five cities : 
but every man will receive his reward : every one of them 
shall have a part in the universal empire. No doubt, 
many an obscure saint, who passed unnoticed through 
this world, who labours for his daily bread, will, here- 
after, be appointed governor over the very district in 
which he once toiled through life as the meanest of man- 
kind; and will govern, with supreme authority, where 
once he was regarded as a slave ! Thus, the saints who 
shall be gathered as the first-fruits, share with the blessed 
Jesus in his exaltation; they, as well as he, shall govern 
where once they served; they shall be honoured where 
once they were despised. The beggar shall be raised 
from the dunghill, set among princes, and made to inherit 
a throne of glory. 

In view of all these glorious promises to the church 
and to the world, can there be one saint who really loves 
the Lord Jesus, who will not exclaim, " Even so come, 
Lord Jesus ! and come quickly." Let this groaning crea- 
tion speedily be delivered; the precious sleeping ones 
awake to immortal life ; the living ones be changed ; 
" this corruptible put on incorruption, this mortal be 
clothed with immortality;" the two wave loaves be offered; 
the feast of first-fruits be fulfilled ; the glorious anthem be 
sung, " Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the 
seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us 
to God by thy blood, out 'of every kindred and tongue 
and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God 
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." Even 
so, amen. Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly. 



i; And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it to- 
sther: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." — Isa. XL. 5. 



Behold the mountain of the Lord 

In latter days shall rise 
On mountain tops above the hills, 

And draw the wond'ring eyes. 

To this the joyful nations round, 
All tribes and tongues shall flow — 

" Up to the hill of God," they'll say, 
"And to his house we'll go." 

The beam that shines from Zion's hill 

Shall lighten every land : 
The King who reigns in Salem's tower 

Shall all the world command. 

But blessings, far surpassing all 

The joys of earth below, 
His chosen Bride redeem'd from earth, 

His risen Church, shall know. 

This is her bright and blessed hope, 
To dwell with Christ above, 

To share his throne, and fully know 
The secrets of his love. 

One with himself, 'tis hers alone 

To reign in glory there ; 
And, to the sons of men below, 

His blessed name declare. 



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